Arizona Wildcats’ John Bonano wins Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete Award

John Bonano has made 22 of 32 field goal attempts since taking over the job at midseason last year. Photo by Russ Isabella-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats senior kicker John Bonano has been selected the Pac-12 Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Thursday.

Bonano, who is a physiology major with a 3.927 grade-point average, is in the interview process for applying to medical school.

Bonano is the second UA player to win the conference football award, which began for the 2007-08 school year. Arizona linebacker Spencer Larsen won the inaugural award for football.

Bonano has made 14 of 20 field-goal attempts this season, with a long of 46 yards. He is 51 of 52 on extra-point attempts, missing his first try against Arizona State to snap a school-record streak of 74 consecutive makes in his career.

So, basically, he gets A’s in the classroom with as much ease as making an extra point.

On kickoffs, 37 of his 81 attempts have been touchbacks.

The Pac-12 awards Scholar-Athlete awards in 22 sports.

According to the league:

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.